Blindfold Challenge: 6 Dreadnought Guitars! 

Finally, someone agrees with me!!

The J45 was instantly recognised by me too. There really is something about that Gibson sound. Might have been interesting if a hummingbird had been thrown in the mix.

Changing the axis of the guitar a few degrees or position my an inch can drastically change the sound. In my experience, the best mic placement depends on the guitar, the guitarist, the mic, preamp, the room, and the desired effect. Rules are only starting points for dialing the desired sound/tone.

That's a very sharp observation.

These tests seem almost meaningless when they play in a room full of guitars. Each instrument would be more distinguishable in a room by itself without sound going into and back out of the other guitars.

I've got an LL16 Yamaha...it is the best sounding guitar I've ever heard but the action is very tense and stiff....hard to play it for more then an hour.....refretted it with stainless frets myself. Got the neck so I could lower the relief to .007....made a huge difference but still has a ton of tension in the neck...probably the way the neck was set...it's a cannon....it's known to be a better copy of a D-28 then a D-28. Problem is chinese quality production. You got a 50/50 chance you'll get one without a hump in the neck somewhere....ah....just like the Martins! I have a friend who has a D-45 that won't capo without buzzing. A sure sign of a neck that's not perfect. If you consider a Yamaha LL-16 then take a capo...if the action is at a resonable height and it capo's the 1st three frets with minumum buzzes then the neck is pretty good. (And it sounds like a cannon). Can't buy these things from sweetwater/internet or you'll be sending them back multiple times to get a good one and they'll try to sell you everything to get it right. (While reducing the fret height such as a plek) I believe they used a red label yamaha in this video. FG5 or 3 ??? I like the LL16's and up better.

Yamaha makes great guitars. They even give you torrified wood on many models for $1,000 to 1,500. I'm not as crazy about the non-scalloped Martin's... They don't really sound like the classic Martin sound to me... Easy to mistake for a Yamaha.... Which can make some of the Yamahas sound more open than some new martins, in my experience.... I may have liked the Eastman more than that particular Martin.

Especially when they chose the Player series as their #1 😂😂

@@kerbyfab or when they hand Pete is own guitar and he can't even tell its his beloved purple Tele.

I think I need one too 😆

you do! it's wonderful both in playability and sound (and price for that matter). @@ralfybaby

Why be so vague, unless you know, you don’t know… are you talking about the guitar the refer to as Yamaha. Pretty sure you are, but for others, clarity is inclusive.

@@wheninroamful apparently i do and you don't. however, i suggest you contact the creators of the video to specify the models shown lol

I believe the Eastman is Mahogany b/s and the Martin is Rosewood b/s... I personally prefer the sound of Mahogany on b/s, especially on a dreadnaught. I wish they would have put the D18 in the mix instead of the 28

This was super fun. I wonder if the guitars were played with flat picking runs of that would have made it any easier?

It’s worth remembering that what you like in the video is at least 2 steps away from what the guitars sound like in real life. It’s dependent on the mic setup, the audio interface, RU-vid encoding and the speakers/headphones that you hear it through. Blind tests are fun and interesting but I won’t be basing my next purchase on the sound of any guitar from a video

That is how the blindfold guy picked the Martin.

Can you please tell what Taylor model is it? Thank you.

Can you please tell what Taylor model is it? Thank you.

He is not the only one, as it is distinctive. Those were not the only ones I could determine. I play a J-45 banner, a D-28 with Adirondack VTS top, a Taylor 717e Builders Edition, and an Eastman E22SS-V-sb (not used in this demo). I have thought about Guild and bought one for a grandson. I have also purchased Yamaha FS 830s as donations: that Yamaha did not sound like that. Thanks Quinton and Paul.

Agreed, most can be guessed, but a few minutes extra to list the models would've been great.

No, that is a Guild D-40 Standard that they came out with recently. It has that semi-gloss nitro finish, unlike the D-40 Traditional (gloss finish), and the D-40 (satin finish).

Thanks!

@@GaryGBrownI looked at that Guild more closely and it's a D-50 Standard with that same semi-gloss (Vintage Gloss is what they call it) finish. The back and sides are Rosewood, so it would sound more like a D-55 than a D-40.

Really proud of you bud

@@HeliBenj 😂

Mind you, taylors are famous for their amazing mid range, and, when amplified with a good pickup(not their ES2 system) it can produce amazing tones. Also they're great in the studio for this reason because the mic picks up the sound in a better way, at least that's my experience. I agree with you on the Yamaha, I don't like it at all. Martins have a very specific "glow" to their sound, it's like it has more reverb. The guilds are somewhat a "common guitar sound" for me, I used to own a slope shoulder adirondack one and it didn't have the mojo I needed. I now own a Santa Cruz Pre War Dreadnought and a slope shoulder guitar built by a luthier friend from Northern Ireland, and I just don't find the need to get any new one or change them because I'm getting bored. But this comes after going through Epiphone, Larrivee D03, a J45 custom, a second Larrivee, d40, a Taylor 810 first edition and a Guild Orpheum slope shoulder.